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2:33

it's not as advanced him to.

2:38

They'll come in the I'm new. To.

2:43

The center of the dust.

2:45

that it's. And He

2:47

said. Oh

2:53

me, how are the same in Madrid

2:55

and they gave. Me:

2:57

How welcome to Reddit! Send me

2:59

to just a minute and is

3:01

it goes. Ten minutes of googling

3:04

suit remember. That me, how is

3:06

Hazy says. Hello hello hello. We've

3:08

got a case today because ah, Story that

3:11

we're gonna tell you to sleep. Is

3:13

one involving the notorious

3:15

criminal underworld. Of the try.

3:18

The. Brutal murders of to innocent teenage.

3:21

And a psychic for since. All. Unfolding

3:24

in a place and time that I could name. From.

3:27

Com. And. Net. At

3:30

the time, Hong Kong was one

3:32

of Britain's last and just metropolitan

3:34

territory. It's not alone. Surrounded

3:37

on three sides by mainland China,

3:40

And on the fourth with the Pacific. You

3:42

know? apparently? So a lot of streets

3:44

in Hong Kong used have English names

3:47

because we ruin everything. And

3:49

when they renamed them in

3:51

Cantonese. They chase and be like

3:53

such. A bit so there's

3:55

like. A bunch of. But.

3:57

Like a bit more like sophisticated like. But

4:00

there are a few street names in Hong Kong that

4:03

are like, we hate the British. Oh,

4:05

I know. Well, so there

4:07

you go. And

4:09

just a year before, 1984, China

4:12

and Great Britain had signed the

4:14

Sino-British Joint Declaration, the 99-year

4:16

lease under which China had given Hong Kong to

4:18

the UK. What's that? And

4:21

this treaty set out the plan for China to

4:23

take back control of the city state in 1996.

4:27

As a result, Hong Kong was in a

4:29

major state of flux, and tensions

4:31

were on the rise. There

4:33

had been years of tumultuousness leading up

4:35

the treaty-being side. Hong

4:37

Kong was prosperous, and many

4:39

there feared that socially and

4:41

politically, China would strangle Hong Kong.

4:45

Just to compare, in 1985,

4:47

the GDP per capita of Hong Kong

4:49

was over $6,500, and

4:53

the GDP per capita of China was

4:55

just $295. People

4:57

in Hong Kong wanted their autonomy, and

5:00

they wanted to remain having close ties to the

5:02

West. But the uncertainty of how China

5:04

would allow this, when they were back in

5:06

charge, was leading to a lot

5:08

of instability on the island. So

5:10

yeah, obviously, a lot

5:13

of tension there about like, people not

5:15

necessarily wanting to stay ruled by the British, though

5:17

there were people that wanted to remain under

5:20

British control, to avoid having to

5:22

go under Chinese control. They wanted

5:24

to have autonomy, and that's what they were scared they

5:26

were going to live. And what did we say? A

5:28

player's go? Just that. And

5:31

sensing the transition as an opportunity to get

5:34

a foothold, organized crime was also

5:36

on the rise. The city,

5:38

which had a reputation as being

5:40

incredibly safe, had seen a

5:42

sharp rise in gang violence, robberies, and

5:45

even murder. And for some, who

5:47

had not benefited from the prosperity Hong Kong

5:49

had enjoyed over the decades, there

5:51

was a bubbling resentment towards the upper

5:54

classes. In particular, towards

5:56

the large expat community That

5:58

had made Hong Kong. The home.

6:01

Over the years. So. Like

6:03

everyone as gone with someone who's.live in Hong

6:05

Kong. And

6:08

one of these disgruntled people was

6:10

twenty four year old. tongue shouldn't

6:12

eat. Time was a low level

6:15

member of the Sookie. Hang Triad a

6:17

foot soldier, And wanna be gangsta?

6:20

He was the leader of his gang of

6:22

five. He spent their days begging, stealing, and

6:24

committing. Petty Crime on the streets Hong Kong. And

6:27

you might be thinking that there isn't. A

6:30

very glamorous life for a member of the

6:32

infamous Triads. You're probably imagining

6:34

the underworld. Chinese Access must succeed. School

6:36

tattoos and a code of honor The

6:38

ones that runs i hope see a

6:40

red daughter mad. But. What

6:42

we're dealing with is. A Borderline homeless

6:44

see: And now

6:47

seems. Like as good a time as any. For.

6:49

Red handed rundown on the Chinese. Try it was

6:51

waiting to die for years. I don't know what's

6:54

taken. This long it's time. So

6:56

to understand the formation of the. Trance.

6:59

We. Must start! With. The Qing Dynasty.

7:02

Which. Was an ethically Manchu ruling class

7:04

that reined in China for around

7:06

three hundred years. From. Sixteen

7:09

that, six, Until Nineteen.

7:11

Twelve. There. Was a

7:13

secret society? Could the Hung Society. Which.

7:15

Had been formed to overthrow the Qing

7:17

Dynasty. And restore the

7:20

previous ethnically son Ming dynasty.

7:24

And the original try it was born

7:26

in. The late seventeen hundreds. At

7:28

the criminal arm of this hung

7:31

society. Over time,

7:33

this original triad splintered into several.

7:35

Hundred. Smaller group. Known.

7:37

As the. Sort

7:46

of appeal. As. Well as various

7:48

other criminal activities in the country. Then.

7:51

In Nineteen Forty Nine. When the

7:53

People's Republic of China was founded under Chairman

7:56

Mao Zedong, The Try. along

7:58

with any other secrets were

8:01

seen as a major threat. Would you still be

8:03

my friend if I wore a term and my Māori shirt? I

8:06

would feel conflicted. As

8:11

a result of this viewing

8:14

of secret societies as threats, the

8:16

triads were slowly forced out of

8:18

China and into British ruled

8:20

Hong Kong. And W1. Yes.

8:24

Yes. Absolutely. Because many

8:26

of these triads actually did flee

8:28

overseas and set themselves up across

8:30

Southeast Asia, the United States and

8:33

W1 here in jolly old England. Actually

8:36

there is opposite Soho theatre, there

8:39

is a news agent that only sells Chinese

8:41

newspapers on Dean

8:43

Street. That's the fucking front. Of course it is. Did

8:45

you see how they were like shutting down all the sweet shops

8:47

in like Soho, around China down as

8:50

like us just organised crime? Absolutely. They

8:52

used to walk past them for years and be like how

8:54

is this sweet shop open? Who is

8:57

buying sweets here? Turns out

8:59

nobody. Nobody. When I worked at Soho

9:01

theatre there's Soho theatre on the one

9:03

side and the opposite side is the Soho hotel

9:06

and there is a red door which

9:08

is a brothel. And

9:10

when I worked at Soho theatre you see, maybe, I'm pretty

9:12

sure it's still there but I'm old now so who knows.

9:15

Anyway, you would see all sorts of characters coming and going

9:17

through that red door. And one day there was a

9:19

couple who got married at the Soho hotel and they

9:21

were having their wedding photo shoot in front of the

9:23

red door and we were all just watching. Were

9:26

they Chinese? No! What?

9:28

Yeah, yeah, they just didn't know. Oh,

9:30

okay. And it's

9:32

a very famous door, like everyone

9:34

knows. So we're all sat behind the bar

9:36

being like, should we go and tell them? So

9:40

in the end I went up to them

9:42

and I was like, I'm so sorry to interrupt but

9:46

you might want to move. Oh my God.

9:50

And they were like, oh my God we had no idea

9:52

and I was like, that's hilarious. Anyway,

9:54

back to the story.

9:58

So after the spintering and suppression. with

10:00

the dynasties of the past now gone. In

10:02

the 1950s the Triads saw

10:04

a re-emergence. They saw

10:07

the post-World War II era and

10:09

the uncertainty that came with it because all of

10:11

the men were dead but they

10:14

saw it as the perfect opportunity to

10:16

re-establish themselves. Apparently that's why

10:19

my cousin works in, I

10:21

always say works in human trafficking, she doesn't traffic

10:23

human, she's anti-human trafficking. So she deals with

10:26

a lot of organised crime theory and blah blah

10:28

blah. And she was like the reason the

10:30

Albanians have completely taken over London is because

10:32

they took the New York Italian

10:35

Mafia model and took it to London

10:37

because it didn't exist before because it

10:39

was all Triads and that's why the

10:41

Albanians have completely like enveloped London

10:43

because they're using the same model that's used in

10:45

America because no one had thought about it before.

10:47

There you go. Anyway, that's

10:49

miserable. By

10:53

this point the Triads were effectively just organised

10:55

criminal gangs. Some were even

10:57

specialising in white-collar crime rather than

10:59

the usual pursuits we might think of like

11:01

extortion, brothel operating, red doors and

11:03

drugs. But particularly

11:06

in China and Hong Kong the

11:08

Triads did manage to maintain

11:10

their connection to politics. I

11:12

think that's the key difference

11:15

is that when the original Triads

11:17

set up and then the original splintering and

11:20

the reason the CCP stood down on them

11:22

is because they were a political

11:26

organisation. They were there as the

11:28

criminal arm of a political group

11:30

whereas that's kind of changed and

11:32

shifted now apart from

11:34

in China and Hong Kong allegedly. So

11:38

the relationship between Sreeti's best

11:40

friends, the CCP, and

11:42

the Triads is quite complex and

11:44

it has evolved continuously over

11:46

time. There have

11:48

been absolutely times of

11:51

cooperation between certain elements within the

11:53

CCP and the Triads. Allegations

11:56

of corruption and collusion abound.

12:00

Of course, the Chinese Communist

12:02

Party officially condemns criminal activities

12:05

and has publicly taken measures to

12:07

combat organised crime, including the

12:09

triads and Shen Yun. Let's

12:11

go watch it. Okay. Great.

12:14

Let's go watch Shen Yun and then go eat in China Town.

12:16

And go take a picture in front of that red door. Luckily

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we do that though we're going to talk to

14:28

you now about the rank structure within Hong

14:30

Kong triads. Now this is all very important.

14:32

I know this this red-handed rundown has been

14:34

going on for a while but this is really really important. Follow

14:38

along because it's important to state

14:40

that triad groups now are geographically, ethnically,

14:43

culturally and structurally unique.

14:46

When you're talking about like a triad gang

14:48

that is operating out of like San

14:50

Francisco it's completely different to one that's

14:52

operating out of Hong Kong. So

14:55

what we're going to be discussing for the rest

14:57

of this episode refers specifically to Hong

14:59

Kong's triads. Triads use

15:01

numerical codes to distinguish ranks and

15:04

positions within the gang. The

15:06

numbers are of course inspired by Chinese

15:08

numerology and are based on the

15:10

I Ching or Book of Changes

15:13

which is an ancient Chinese divination text. Features

15:15

very heavily in The Man in the High

15:17

Castle. No, I haven't seen that still. Yeah

15:22

it's the reason I got Amazon Prime. Because

15:24

it had like a really heavy, this

15:26

must have been in 2014-15, had a really heavy advertising

15:30

campaign. It was like on all of the billboards and

15:32

I was like I've got to watch that. And

15:34

it looked very dramatic. It is very dramatic and

15:37

essentially what it is is if we'd

15:39

lost World War Two what would have

15:41

happened? And it's the

15:43

same guy who wrote to Android's

15:45

Dream of Robotic Sheep that Blade

15:49

Runner's based on. Okay. I

15:51

can't remember his name. Anyway I would rewatch

15:53

season one. I tried to get

15:56

past season two, couldn't do it, read

15:58

the book and A

16:01

one he read the book a kind of runs a

16:03

series but like the series other sunlight as get the

16:05

book is better. It's just very

16:07

different. Say

16:09

yes. That is what it is based. On

16:12

these ancient Chinese divination, tax.

16:14

And the top of the pile. Based

16:16

on this Ancient Chinese you morality.

16:19

Is for eight nine a

16:21

mountain master o clock in

16:24

had aka. The leader of the

16:26

tried. Under the leader com

16:28

the fourth. We ate. Split.

16:30

Into the Vanguard which is the operations.

16:38

And he just. Amount.

16:41

Then. On the third round below this.

16:44

Comes the for three pay. Eighty

16:47

Eight. This true Fender. Who

16:49

acts as a liaison between units

16:51

and subtracts within the larger trial.

16:54

Then comes. The. Forty Six, Eighty

16:57

Eight Of Read Paul. Is

16:59

certain is the enforcer or military commander

17:02

in charge of any offensive or defensive

17:04

i that's conducted by the tried. Then

17:07

the four. one, five, Okay,

17:10

a the white paper thing. He

17:12

do with admin paperwork and fourteen. Then.

17:15

Comes the infamous number Forty Nine.

17:17

Ak the Forty Niners. These.

17:20

Are ordinary foot men's. And

17:23

low level criminals. Who been initiated into the

17:25

To. The only people

17:27

lower than the Forty Niners are The Blue

17:30

Lantern. People. Who work for the

17:32

triad? I haven't been initiated. Pension.

17:35

He was a forty niner. So.

17:38

The Mine a triad sucky hang.

17:41

For t hang it sounds as part of the

17:43

teach. Our group. One of the

17:45

five major try it's that rope Hong Kong. Their

17:48

main sources of income: A racketeering, counterfeiting,

17:50

extortion, drug. Trafficking money laundering and

17:52

illegal gambling. The To our

17:54

group has criminal operations on every

17:56

major consonant, including right here in

17:58

the Uk. and they are

18:01

believed to have around 25,000 active members.

18:05

However, we need to take things

18:07

back a notch because while yes, this is all

18:09

going on, the man we're

18:11

talking about today, Pan Shun Yi,

18:13

the 49er, was not an international

18:16

criminal mastermind. That is very

18:18

important to state. I think like

18:20

you said, Hannah, earlier in the episode, when people

18:22

hear Triad, Triad member, they're like, oh my God,

18:24

you must be some sort of like, you

18:26

know, alpha fucking criminal

18:29

underworld gang leader. No, he's

18:32

a 49er, and it's

18:35

like one level up from being the lowest of the low.

18:38

Having said that though, he was the only

18:40

inducted member of his small group of friends,

18:43

and that made him the de facto leader

18:46

of a very minor group of sub-level

18:49

criminals. So basically, he was a

18:51

low-level 49er in charge of a

18:53

bunch of blue lanterns affiliated with

18:55

a minor triad who

18:57

sat under a much larger and more important

18:59

triad. So the best

19:01

way to think about it is Pan Shun Yi

19:04

was a very little, small, little fry. So

19:09

now with the context set, let's get on with

19:11

our story. On the 20th of April, 1985, Pan

19:13

Shun Li was

19:16

out with his gang. They were,

19:18

as they called it, out to play,

19:21

which in their very clockwork orange-esque

19:23

lingo meant wandering the streets of Hong

19:25

Kong, looking for trouble. They'd

19:28

spent the morning breaking into cars, schooling what

19:30

they could, then selling it, and so on

19:32

and so on. By that

19:34

afternoon, the gang were wandering around

19:36

looking for anything they could see. A sweat

19:38

metal, before Pan came up with the idea

19:41

of breaking into the large radio masts

19:44

that sat atop Braemar Hill. Pan

19:47

knew the area well. He lived in

19:49

a dilapidated hut in an abandoned quarry

19:51

on that hill, and he was sure

19:53

that they would be able to find some copper or

19:56

something up in those radio towers. We think

19:58

they could definitely sell for a good price. So.

20:01

The. Gang tracked pass the Brain, The

20:03

Hell Mansions and through the winding paths

20:05

amongst the shrubbery. Up to the top.

20:08

Of Frame a Hill. However, when they

20:10

got to the radio towers, It wasn't

20:12

as easy as pension. He had originally thought it

20:14

would be. The towers regarded

20:16

by hi steel fences and the

20:18

gate squirrel locked. There. Were

20:21

a few exposed bits of wiring which the

20:23

gang yanked on in the hope of releasing

20:25

some copper. but no luck. After

20:27

a few sales attempt to break through the

20:30

school gates they gave up. And

20:32

they decided to head back down the hill. And

20:34

find another way to make that money. And

20:37

it was at this point. That. Pang

20:39

decided that that best. Option was

20:41

to mock someone instead. He

20:44

knew the tracks up behind the Bramhall Mansions

20:46

well. Despite only being a few hundred

20:48

meters. From residential Hong Kong. They

20:50

were surprisingly well covered. And

20:52

although plenty of people walked through them. Every single

20:55

day. It was easy enough to

20:57

hide away from them without being spotted. Said

21:00

pension me. And Is for

21:02

followers. Began skulking through the Underbelly.

21:05

Looking. For hopefully. Wednesday passer by to

21:07

mock. It was

21:09

there that they spotted a young couple. Sitting.

21:12

Down in a clearing surrounded by books.

21:15

It was seventeen year old Kennedy Mcbride.

21:17

An. Eighteen year old, nickel, a man. Both.

21:21

Kenneth the Nicola were born in the Uk.

21:23

And mommy the came from particularly rich

21:26

families by western standards. The

21:28

teenagers did with their families in a gated

21:30

community of mansions on brain the Hill. One.

21:32

Of the wealthy neighborhoods and home. And

21:35

both attended the prestigious and I did school.

21:38

Scottish. Kid Can it was well known around

21:41

campus. He was president of the student union

21:43

and part of the schools rowing team. He.

21:45

Was outgoing that looking athletic and even

21:47

a bit of a poet. Sign me

21:49

up to six as it's. Love

21:51

surprising the teenage love of his life,

21:54

Nicola. With. Soon it's about what

21:56

a bloody cat she. Was. And.

21:59

It was true, Middle. Of a

22:01

beautiful, smart, ambitious, Share

22:03

a passion for languages and was one of

22:05

the few experts. Who. Is fluent

22:07

in both Cantonese I'm Mandarin, The.

22:10

Color wants to become an interpreter when she grew up. That.

22:13

Particular. Whatever happened, That

22:16

day, the couple was studying hard for the

22:19

upcoming A Levels. They. Often lead

22:21

to come out into the paths above our

22:23

houses to study together. In private. Yeah,

22:25

right. The. Pair would deepen

22:27

conversation. When they were spotted by Pang and is

22:30

gone. Trading in the undergrowth.

22:32

Thanks held his gang that these were western

22:34

as so they must have money. And.

22:38

The. Guy's arm was in a sling. So.

22:40

That made a couple of very easy

22:42

target. Pang and stretched his

22:44

followers to split into two groups. That.

22:46

Crap three the bushes. Pang.

22:48

Picked up a shot by can stick from the ground. And

22:51

then. They. Passed out and rushed

22:53

the path. The shop couples from

22:55

to their feet and Pang ordered them to give him

22:57

what other money they had. Unfortunately,

23:00

the Kenneth A necklace. They.

23:02

Only had one singular dollar on

23:05

them. This wasn't good enough.

23:07

A pan. And it quickly

23:09

became agitated. Screaming at them

23:11

to hand over their money, Panicking.

23:14

The pair emptied out their pockets into everything they

23:16

held in the floor, desperate to prove that they

23:18

had nothing else to give. Sadly,

23:20

This only escalate the situation. Neil.

23:23

Filled with each. Pain. Beginning

23:26

to thoughts on the table. As

23:28

penetrated the incense between nickname and

23:30

the danger. And

23:33

shoved Kenny. Who with his arm and a

23:35

sling. Com said it was time. For

23:37

you to fight or flight? And.

23:40

The couple tries. They

23:43

threw themselves that pang and tried their best to

23:45

overpower the five men in front of them. That.

23:47

They were horribly outnumbered. And

23:50

get it was already injured. There.

23:52

Was no hope. Before.

23:54

We get onto what happened next we need to

23:56

talk about comes on and why was in a

23:58

sling in the first place. Because

24:00

we've seen the injury reported as two different things,

24:03

in some cases in the same article. So

24:06

either his arm being in a sling was

24:08

down to a torn tricep or a

24:10

broken collarbone. In both cases

24:12

the injury was reported as being the result

24:14

of a rowing accident. However,

24:17

we have done a little bit more digging and

24:19

we think that we have worked

24:21

out where things have got confused. In

24:23

one of the documentaries that we've watched, we

24:26

have seen it described that Kenneth

24:28

fought valiantly despite having a broken

24:30

collarbone. And we think that's

24:32

where the confusion has started. We think

24:34

Kenneth originally had a torn tricep, a

24:37

much more common rowing injury than a broken collarbone,

24:39

but that his collarbone was broken in

24:42

the fight with Pang and his fang.

24:45

And so then it was mistranslated as if Kenneth

24:47

was going into the fight with an already

24:49

broken collarbone when actually it happened during the

24:51

fight. Anyway, sounds complicated, why

24:53

does it matter? Because a broken

24:56

collarbone is quite hard to do and it

24:58

shows you just how violent this fight became. So

25:02

once Kenneth and Nicola were overpowered, they

25:04

were tied up and beaten mercilessly.

25:08

Pang, who was very much leading the violence, ordered

25:10

the rest of the group to keep kicking and

25:12

hitting so that they would all

25:14

be equally culpable. It

25:16

was then that Pang set his sights

25:19

on Nicola. He ordered the

25:21

rest of the gang to act as lookouts. Before

25:24

Pang, Shen, Yi, then

25:26

spent the next two to three

25:28

hours raping and beating

25:30

18 year old Nicola

25:32

Mayes. It's like a

25:35

horror film, truly. Once

25:37

Pang had finished, he announced that the couple

25:39

had seen too much and needed to do

25:41

it. He then used that sharp

25:43

stick, which he'd originally attacked the couple

25:45

with, to suffocate both

25:48

Kenneth and Nicola to death.

25:51

One of the group stole Kenneth's Nike trainers,

25:54

and then the five men began to make

25:56

a fairly pitiful attempt at hiding the

25:58

evidence. They tore up

26:00

all of the couple's schoolbooks and tossed them

26:02

into the undergrowth in a nearby stream, before

26:06

leaving the teenager's bodies in

26:08

a secluded clearing. The

26:10

gang then headed back down into the city. Wait,

26:13

nothing had happened. That

26:15

evening, Kenneth's parents began to worry when their son

26:17

didn't come home in time for dinner. They

26:20

suspected that he just got distracted hanging out with

26:22

Nicola. But, as it

26:24

got later and later, Kenneth's mum called

26:26

Nicola's house to see if they had turned up

26:28

there, and when they found out

26:31

that Nicola's parents hadn't seen them either, Kenneth's

26:33

dad Hugh went up to the hill

26:35

to find them. He knew that they liked

26:37

to study up there. But Hugh didn't find

26:39

Kenneth and Nicola. He

26:41

did, however, find one of

26:44

his son's torn-up schoolbooks. This

26:46

was not a good sign. So,

26:48

as soon as he got back to the house, Hugh filed

26:50

a missing persons report with the Hong Kong police. Given

26:54

the relatively low crime rate, it

26:56

was very unusual for people in Hong Kong to

26:58

go missing, and even more

27:01

unusual, for them not to turn up unharmed.

27:04

Unfortunately, as we already

27:06

know, this would not be the case for Kenneth and

27:08

Nicola. The

27:10

next day, on Sunday 21st April 1985, a

27:14

bank manager was taking an early morning jog

27:16

up Raymer Hill, when by chance,

27:19

he noticed what looked like two people laying

27:21

in a small clearing on the hillside. The

27:25

dense brush and winding path made it difficult

27:27

to see them, and it was only

27:29

by sheer luck that this jogger had noticed anything at all.

27:32

Confused as to why two people would be laying in

27:34

the woods so early in the morning, he

27:37

went to take a look. And

27:39

it was then that he realised that

27:41

they were not two people sleeping in the

27:43

underground, but the bodies of

27:45

the two missing teenagers, and

27:48

they had been brutally murdered. The bank

27:50

manager called the police and the victims were immediately identified

27:52

as Kenneth McBride and Nicola Mayers. One

27:54

of the first on the scene was Chief Inspector

27:57

Trevor Collins. an

28:00

expat working for the Hong Kong police force. In

28:03

a 2004 documentary, Trevor

28:05

described the site that greeted him as

28:08

the most brutal he had ever

28:10

seen. Kenneth was

28:12

bound at his feet and arms, missing his

28:14

shoes and had over a

28:16

hundred injuries on his body ranging

28:19

from harsh bruises to stab wounds.

28:22

But Nicola's death was even more disturbing.

28:25

She had also been tied up and had

28:27

over 500 different

28:29

injuries. A post-mortem

28:32

held at a British military hospital showed

28:34

that Nicola had been raped and

28:36

vaginally penetrated by both a

28:39

stick and a bottle. There

28:41

was also traces of semen on her body.

28:45

An enormous investigation started. Over

28:47

800 people were called into work

28:49

on the case, including hundreds of officers and

28:51

even the British armed forces stationed in Hong

28:53

Kong. That day, 400 officers

28:56

and a police helicopter combed the hillside

28:58

in a long line, looking

29:01

for any evidence that pointed towards the killers.

29:04

The search was far from easy. The area

29:06

of the hill where the bodies had been

29:08

found was steep, rough ground and it was

29:10

covered in litter. Quickly,

29:12

the search party began to find bits

29:14

of torn-up schoolbook belonging to the murdered

29:16

couple but, trying to find each

29:18

piece or indeed anything else that may have

29:20

been useful evidence amongst the rest of the

29:22

debris was a mammoth task. Eventually,

29:25

they did manage to piece together the

29:27

majority of the torn-up books and even

29:30

found the stick that had been used

29:32

to beat, penetrate and eventually kill the

29:34

couple. Given

29:36

the scale of the initial search effort

29:39

and the brutal nature of their murders,

29:42

in a city with a notoriously low crime rate,

29:45

especially among the expat population, the

29:47

case became huge in the local

29:50

press. However, almost

29:52

immediately tensions began to rise. The

29:55

British press reported the incident as an

29:57

awful tragedy born out of senseless violence.

30:00

Which it was. The Chinese-speaking

30:02

press focused on something else. Because

30:05

while violent crime wasn't common in Hong Kong,

30:08

it wasn't unheard of. And when

30:10

violence did occur, it was usually

30:12

amongst the local poor population. And

30:15

so the Chinese papers raged that this

30:17

case had become the largest criminal investigation

30:20

and manhunt in Hong Kong's history, only

30:22

because the victims were white expats. With

30:26

the case quickly becoming international news, the

30:28

pressure was on for Chief Inspector Trevor

30:30

Collins and the rest of his

30:32

team to come up with some answers. People

30:35

wanted to know who had killed these two

30:37

innocent teenagers and why. The press

30:39

quickly focused on some kind of involvement

30:41

from the triads. It was suggested

30:44

that either Kenneth and Nicola had got themselves involved

30:46

in organised crime or that

30:48

they had been killed as a part of a

30:50

triad initiation, in which would-be

30:53

49ers kill someone to prove their mettle. But

30:57

the police dismissed both of these theories. They

30:59

suspected that it was, what

31:01

it was, some kind of mugging gone

31:04

wrong. However,

31:06

theories were only

31:08

theories. Police needed something

31:10

more concrete. Frustratingly

31:13

for Trevor Collins, despite what looked on

31:15

the surface like a huge amount of

31:17

potential evidence, the police were struggling to

31:19

get anywhere. DNA testing was in

31:21

its infancy at the time, and the small

31:23

amounts of blood and semen samples found at

31:25

the scene couldn't be properly analysed, let alone

31:28

checks against some kind of database. Remember,

31:30

it's still only 1985. So

31:33

in the end, the police resorted

31:35

to interviewing every family, both locals

31:38

and expats, to find a lead,

31:40

any lead at all. But

31:42

it wasn't going to be easy, because there

31:44

were 18,000 people in and

31:47

around Bremmer Hill that day at the time

31:49

of the murders. 18,000?

31:51

How big is Hong Kong? The thing

31:53

is, I think Hong Kong, so... What is the

31:55

documentary about it? About

31:59

the housing crisis in the UK. Web

32:02

address: welcome Landmass Wife is actually

32:04

got more. The properly. For whatever

32:06

reason they don't develop on a lot to.

32:09

Say. Just developing a small patch and build

32:11

up and up and up somewhere results in

32:13

tiny houses in houses for such a premium.

32:15

But there's loads of land, it's just really

32:17

poorly developed. I don't know why that is

32:19

the case that I remember. I read an

32:22

article what I was at university about. A

32:24

size eight and they call it rural Hong

32:26

Kong. Which. Seems like a misnomer

32:29

where it's matrilineal, never on. When you get

32:31

married you take the the woman's name. Bull

32:33

Run is like a very unique culture. The

32:35

I could not sick I was like that

32:37

can't be real Because Hong Kong as Hong Kong

32:40

is Hong Kong. There is no outside of

32:42

the city but there it. But.

32:44

Yeah, the point I'm trying to make is that

32:46

eighteen thousand people in and around smashed into one

32:48

really small area. Kind of fits

32:51

with the way in which unfortunately people in

32:53

Hong Kong live. So.

32:55

Of course, this left the Hong Kong

32:57

Police within almost insurmountable. Task. So.

33:00

Bridge Police actually sent over the

33:02

computer system. That. They had develops

33:04

here. After the York's. To

33:09

poke was designed to help

33:11

married aspects large amounts of.

33:14

Said. This helped to Hong Kong Police

33:16

bring down that list. Stench.

33:25

Still feeling the pressure though. Travel Collins then

33:27

flew to Baton. Pass. Me school

33:29

take several pieces key evidence for

33:31

testing by the home office. The.

33:34

Uk home office at the time. With. The

33:37

leading Edge as Dna and protesting in

33:39

the. Hope was that

33:41

they might be able to. Print

33:44

out on the tone books and

33:46

plenty to. A

33:48

sadly. No. Dice. Six.

33:51

Months went by without a break in the case.

33:54

Until finally. A potential

33:56

lead. Came. From. An

33:58

unlikely source. Unknown

34:00

fruit salad Arrived Hong Kong Police

34:02

station saying she was having psychic

34:04

premonitions. About the Brain The Hill

34:07

Murders. And. According to

34:09

this woman, She. Had woken is

34:11

husband up several times and the night

34:13

shouting in english language that this woman

34:15

claimed. Not to be able speak word of. And

34:18

she thought that they must sipping connected

34:20

in some way. To. The to

34:22

British experts who were murdered months

34:24

before. Incredibly.

34:27

The. Woman was questioned and it seems

34:29

to have some information a police

34:31

new to be true but the

34:33

hadn't been made available to the

34:35

public. Allegedly. Some

34:37

of the things that this mystic fruit salad

34:40

sad. Even. Turned out to

34:42

be true later in the investigation.

34:44

although we have no written report of

34:46

what exactly. Where. The. Police

34:48

was so taken aback by what this woman

34:50

had to say that they brought in their

34:52

own clinical hypnotist. School?

34:55

Yeah, no, they can't do nothing.

34:57

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more this clinical hypnotist.

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a woman. And this is

36:23

a direct quote that clinical hypnotist. Decided

36:25

that this woman was quite more

36:27

than a little weird how medically

36:29

professional of here. But. The

36:32

clinical hypnotist didn't lend some credence

36:34

to the slate statements. Spite

36:37

this, it was decided that the

36:39

psychic was best kept behind closed

36:41

doors and any evidence she provided

36:44

was never officially used in the

36:46

investigation, which. A good

36:48

thank. Fuck that I. Know.

36:52

Of Italy, this wasn't quite the break in case

36:54

that Travel Collins has been hoping for, Though I

36:56

also don't get the feeling from Travel Collins that

36:58

he is a man much. For cited fruit salads

37:00

he has personally escorting piece of evidence to

37:03

and from the Uk. I don't think he

37:05

said to fuck her out. But.

37:07

Thankfully. The. Break in the case

37:09

did com and it came from a much more

37:12

traditional. Since. The

37:14

start of the case the police have been referring. To

37:16

keep the rules and Hong Kong dollars as a

37:18

reward for any information leading to an arrest. That's

37:21

around five thousand us dollars at the time. To

37:25

stir up. However,

37:28

When. An anonymous business. The

37:31

reward to fight. Started

37:35

coming. In

37:38

November, Nineteen Eighty for. A

37:40

call. It received. A call. A

37:45

pool of was a lieutenant in the

37:47

such key thing triad. And

37:50

he tell Collins about a strange

37:52

interaction he had. On. The nights

37:54

that Kenneth and Nicola had been murdered. Second

37:56

snitches, Get stitches like why are you talking.

37:58

to the place sir Anyway, this

38:01

man had been playing Ma Zhong with

38:03

the Fukki-Hing's dragon head when a low-level

38:05

49er walked in with a big grin

38:07

on his face. The

38:10

big grinner told his boss that he'd got himself in

38:12

some trouble and that he might need some help, but

38:14

he seemed far from embarrassed about what he had done.

38:17

According to the lieutenant, his

38:19

boss stayed calm as the young man described

38:21

how he and his friends had attacked some

38:24

expats to take their money. He

38:26

then went into detail about how he'd raped the girl

38:28

and killed them both. Again, according

38:30

to the lieutenant, the boss waited

38:32

until the young man had told him everything before

38:35

he exploded in rage. He

38:38

hit the young man with a chair and then attacked him

38:40

with a knife. Trevor Collins

38:42

asked the caller what the young

38:45

man's name was, and it was Pangshun-Yi.

38:49

Now look, it's still a bit of a mystery as

38:52

to exactly why this lieutenant decided to

38:54

break several of the most sacred triad

38:57

codes by informing on a member of

38:59

his own gang to the police. Several

39:02

of the sources we've seen have

39:04

said that the move was simply

39:06

money-motivated, and that the lieutenant was

39:09

hoping to get a payout and run, because

39:11

remember there's 500,000 Hong Kong dollars on the

39:13

line. But some

39:16

also claim that the dragon head

39:18

himself, so the top dog, may

39:20

have authorised throwing Pangshun-Yi under

39:23

the bus. Not

39:25

out of some sort of thirst for justice, but

39:28

because Pang was clearly a liability, and

39:31

a liability that was almost certainly going

39:33

to bring noise to their door. Though

39:35

if that was the case, they could have

39:37

done it much more easily, at that much less risk

39:40

to themselves, like they could have just killed Pang. Yeah,

39:42

I really don't understand why he's still alive, to be

39:44

honest. They don't need to go to the police

39:46

and hand him over. Regardless,

39:49

it didn't take long for the

39:51

authorities to locate Pangshun-Yi. He

39:53

was in custody by the 27th of November. And just

39:56

a day later on the 28th, after

39:59

hours of intense- interrogation. Pang

40:01

had given the names and locations of

40:04

the rest of his group. Their names were...

40:06

pray for me. Tam

40:08

Sifun, Chui Wai Man,

40:10

Chung Yau Hang and Won Sam

40:12

Nung. Sounds right to me, thank you. And

40:15

it turned out that Tam Sifun had actually

40:17

been wearing Kenneth's Nike trainers when he was

40:20

arrested. Given the nature

40:22

of the crime that had taken place, the

40:24

police were shocked to find that none of the

40:26

men they picked up had any kind of criminal

40:28

convictions. Which is

40:30

why they had not turned up on any kind

40:32

of database. In fact, two

40:34

of the group, Chung Yau Hang and Won Sam

40:36

Nung, were just 17 and 15 years old. All

40:42

of them were held in separate

40:44

police stations and all confessed quickly.

40:48

However, according to Trevor Collins, all

40:50

wasn't sorted. The confessions were

40:52

a start, but he worried

40:54

that without more evidence, they would

40:56

struggle to get solid convictions for the

40:58

gang. So the three

41:01

men and the two boys were held in

41:03

custody for almost six more months, while

41:05

the police tried to gather more evidence. They

41:08

even asked the men to take part in a video

41:10

re-enactment of the event, as part

41:12

of their voluntary confessions. Presumably,

41:15

the gang hoped that this cooperation would

41:17

help them in court, so they all agreed. Eventually,

41:21

the case went to high court and

41:23

the trial began in November 1986. A

41:26

year and six months after Kenneth and Nicola had

41:28

been murdered. In a last-minute

41:30

plea bargain, now 16-year-old Won Sam Nung

41:33

agreed to plead guilty and

41:35

turned witness against the other four. We're

41:38

still not entirely sure what he

41:40

got out of this plea deal,

41:42

because he was detained at Her

41:44

Majesty's pleasure indefinitely. So that doesn't

41:46

make a lot of sense. Yeah, they're just like, you

41:48

turn on all of them, but you get nothing in a

41:50

case. Right, and he's like, sure, I'm 15. Anyway,

41:54

on the day, the other four

41:56

all pleaded not guilty, despite having

41:58

already made four confessions. and

42:00

having taken part in reenactments. The

42:03

trial lasted 56 days but

42:06

on January 20 1987, almost

42:08

two years after the murders, all

42:11

four of them were found guilty. Pang

42:13

Shun Yee, Tam Sifun and Choo

42:15

Wai Man were all sentenced

42:17

to death. However, that was

42:20

a bit more of a symbolic sentence.

42:22

We've talked about this previously actually, the UK abolished

42:25

the death sentence. So as a

42:27

UK territory, Hong Kong has stopped enforcing

42:29

the death sentence and it had done

42:31

several years before this case happened. So

42:34

in reality, all of the gang

42:36

were actually given whole life sentences. However,

42:40

eventually both of the younger men, Chung

42:43

Yao-Heng and Wan Sam-Lung, had

42:46

their sentences reduced. And

42:48

in what I can only describe

42:51

as an incredible act

42:53

of kindness and forgiveness, Kennis

42:56

family wrote to the Hong

42:58

Kong government asking for

43:00

Wan Sam-Lung to be forgiven. They

43:03

felt that he had pleaded guilty

43:06

and provided evidence for the prosecution at just

43:09

15 years old. So they wanted him

43:11

to have a second chance. That

43:13

is incredibly noble. I don't think I would have.

43:16

Honestly, I feel like I want to cry.

43:18

Yeah. That

43:20

is unbelievable. They're giving him

43:22

a better deal than the prosecution gave him.

43:26

So based on this letter, Wan

43:29

Sam-Lung was actually

43:32

released from jail on the 28th of September

43:34

2004. And he

43:36

gave an emotional public apology, vowing to make

43:38

the most of his second chance at life

43:41

and to be a better person. Chung

43:44

Yao-Heng, the one who had been 17 at

43:46

the time of the murders was also eventually released.

43:49

And both men have since found work through

43:51

the government and seem to have genuinely made

43:53

new lives for themselves. As

43:56

for Nicola and Kennis families, they were

43:58

of course shattered. by their

44:00

loss, but they channeled their grief

44:02

into setting up a joint fund in

44:04

their children's names with the aim

44:07

of helping underprivileged children in Hong Kong

44:09

access education. The

44:11

foundation was still in place at Island School

44:13

as of November 2019, which is the last record

44:15

we could find, but has nearly

44:17

40 years after their murders. Then

44:21

in 1993 came the controversy of

44:25

the Braemer Hills murder film. Says

44:28

movie, I can't say it. The

44:31

trailer itself was grim. There's

44:33

a raspy voiceover claiming finally

44:35

the truth, while clips

44:37

play of a white woman being raped and beaten.

44:40

And then images flash of the couple enduring

44:42

a violent beating before the trailer ends with

44:45

shots of two naked bloody bodies

44:47

lying on a hillside. And

44:50

as you can imagine, Kenneth and Nicola's parents were

44:52

furious and they demand that the film be banned.

44:55

The director claimed that he had no

44:57

intention of the film being

45:00

a quote unquote sexploitation film, which

45:03

does feel hard to accept, given

45:05

that he also stated that sex

45:08

and violence do sell, and

45:10

we do have to consider the box office. He literally

45:12

says that in an interview. He's

45:14

like, if I'm not trying to make a

45:16

sexploitation film, I'm not trying to exploit this

45:18

horrible tragedy that happened. But

45:21

the box office though. Yeah, and he

45:23

really puts the final nail in his own

45:26

coffin in this, because

45:28

his not sexploitation argument

45:30

completely falls apart when you just do a

45:32

quick Google and realise that he cast Playboy

45:34

Bunnies. To play an 18 year old

45:36

girl that was raped and murdered. It's

45:39

horrific. It's horrific. That is

45:41

horrific. It's absolutely horrific. But

45:44

there you go. That's the story. There

45:46

you go. There it is. First time

45:49

we've managed to squeeze in a red-handed rundown

45:51

on the tryout, which we were all very

45:53

excited about here. But yeah, a

45:55

truly, truly just like last

45:57

house on the left fucking horrible.

45:59

Absolutely. horror movie of

46:01

a case. But there you

46:03

go, that is it. Hopefully you

46:06

guys learned something today. We'll be

46:08

back next time with something else. Goodbye.

46:29

Prime members, you can listen to

46:31

Red Handed early and ad-free on

46:33

Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music

46:35

app today or you can listen

46:37

ad-free on Wondery Plus in Apple

46:39

Podcasts. Hey you, before

46:41

you go, tell us a little bit about yourself

46:43

by completing a short survey at wondery.com. Hey,

47:12

hello. Okay, so, uh,

47:15

this is me, so, this is

47:17

a period. Classic

47:19

Judy. Did you sleep with her? Yes,

47:21

Your Honor. You marry his cousin. His

47:24

brother. That's not him. Yes, ma'am. I would

47:26

make a beeline for the door. Any award-winning

47:31

series returns. How did I know that

47:33

I have crystal ball in my head?

47:35

It's an all new, sweetie. It's

47:37

ringing. You can say anything. Judy

47:40

Justice, only on 3D.